In data processing, most end-user applications have user interfaces. Most user interfaces require user decisions as to how to reach a desired outcome. Typically, a user may go through multiple steps of using available user interface (UI) controls, containers, and/or objects (e.g., provided by a user interface of an application) until the desired outcome may be reached. In current systems, the user may need two types of information to navigate the user interface: information about the application capabilities and information that is needed to carry out the task at hand. The information about the application capabilities may be provided in the application itself. Tooltips are commonly used to give the user a description of the UI capabilities to assist the user in choosing and using particular controls or objects. In order to use tooltips, the user may be required to mouse-over (or hold/flick on touch systems) various available options sequentially. However, tooltips typically do not show previews of expected results of using a corresponding UI control or object.
Information that may be needed to carry out the task at hand may be split across multiple computing resources. For example, the information may be available across multiple windows on a desktop system, or multiple applications on a mobile device. For example, a user may use a flight booking website to book a flight, a calendar program to see his availability, and a Portable Document Format (PDF) reader to review company guidelines for booking a flight on her desktop. Thus, the user may need to either arrange her desktop to make sure that all three windows that contain the information she needs are visible at once, or use window switching mechanisms to switch between the windows. This may prove a cumbersome task.
Further, the user may not know or anticipate the results of the user interface control-related actions until she actually uses a particular interface control or object. As a result, the user may not be able to make informed decisions about the expected results of selecting particular user interface controls or objects. Accordingly, unexpected results or errors may occur as a result of such user interface control/object selections that may negatively affect the user experience with a particular user interface.